Both RUP and ITUP have well-defined approaches to managing the configuration of an IT environment. Here, the term "configuration" refers to the component parts that make up an environment. 

Commonality

The high-level approach to managing configurations is similar in RUP and ITUP:

• Identify approved configuration items within the environment and their relationships
• Provide properly configured environment
• Periodically audit the configuration

However, the context in which configurations are managed are different between RUP and ITUP, as described in the next section. 

Variability

The configuration environment is different between RUP and ITUP. 

• In RUP, the configuration environment being managed includes the infrastructure of the software/system under development Thus, "configuration" in RUP means "the requirements, design, and implementation that define a particular version of a system or system component."  This involves the RUP Change and Configuration Management Discipline and the Environment Discipline which includes two aspects:
• • Development artifacts, including source and executable files 
  • Development workspaces
• In ITUP, the configuration environment being managed includes any systems within the entire IT infrastructure that are managed.  Thus, "configuration" in ITUP means any collection of desktops, laptops, network devices, software, printers, and other items that are managed within an enterprise.  This configuration could be a configuration to support a specific business unit, a configuration for a development project, or the entire collection of systems within the IT infrastructure.  ITUP manages all of those configurations through the Configuration Management Process.  This is essentially the same as the ITIL® Configuration Management Process. 

In ITUP, the management of development artifacts is handled within the Project Management process. In addition, the management of development workspaces is handled by the Project Management process, which makes use of the Configuration Management process to manage the individual infrastructure resources. 

Thus, "configuration" has differing contexts within RUP and ITUP and are not directly related. 

An example of a situation in which RUP Configuration Management and ITUP Configuration Management would be integrated include the following:

• A new development team is created, and the RUP Configuration Manager designs the development environment for their lab.  The systems that make up that lab are acquired and set up as per the approved ITUP Configuration Management standards.  The new systems are recorded in the ITUP Configuration Management Database (CMDB). 

In addition, both RUP Configuration Management and ITUP Configuration Management have the concept of "configuration auditing".  However, the auditing that takes place is different between RUP and ITUP.

• In RUP, configuration auditing takes place within the context of a development project, and its purpose is to determine that the developed system meets requirements and that all deliverables are present.
• In ITUP, configuration auditing is performed within the context of the entire IT infrastructure, and its purpose is to determine whether the contents of the CMDB accurately reflect the actual IT infrastructure. 

Mapping Between RUP and ITUP

The mapping between RUP Configuration Management and ITUP Configuration is summarized in the following table. 

Summary

RUP Configuration Management and ITUP Configuration Management do not appear to be sufficiently similar to try to converge.  It is recommended that no integration be pursued along these lines.